I haven't been around here very much lately - you may have noticed. The main reason for my absence is that I have been working on the long-promised second book in the Balanced Beekeeping series - Managing a Top Bar Hive. I has turned out to be something of a marathon task and will probably be close to 360 pages when finished.

I am hopeful of publishing early in the new year (yes, I know I said that last year...)

Meanwhile, I would appreciate your comments on this:

Notation System
I have developed a shorthand notation system to make it easier to describe various operations and layouts using only text and common keyboard symbols. This system can be used to describe TBH layouts in a compact, standardised way, without the need to draw diagrams, which are not always clear. It should prove especially useful in web forums and social media.

In most cases, I use such diagrams to indicate the 'before and after' arrangements of combs in a general way, and there is usually no need to follow them exactly. The symbol for the queen, for example, (Q) is only shown to indicate which side of a division she is in, and not her exact position in the hive! Likewise, C may indicate more than one developing queen cell.

NB - the spaces between characters were suggested by someone with a visual impairment, to aid clarity.

I have replaced the hive ends < > with parentheses ( ) here as I realized that this forum software reserves < > for special markup purposes.

Last edited by biobee on Mon Dec 14, 2015 3:25 pm; edited 4 times in total

Thanks for the update Phil. Your symbols look very logical, would also come in handy when making a more detailed inspection of a TBH , or for beekeepers with large numbers of colonies.
What is the difference in the symbol for queenless and queen right ? I cannot see any.
Also look forward to your new book, I will definately buy a copy, please let us know when it is ready for sale.
Ingo

Conserving wild bees

Research suggests that bumble bee boxes have a very low success rate in actually attracting bees into them. We find that if you create an environment where first of all you can attract mice inside, such as a pile of stones, a drystone wall, paving slabs with intentionally made cavities underneath, this will increase the success rate.

Most bumble bee species need a dry space about the size a football, with a narrow entrance tunnel approximately 2cm in diameter and 20 cm long. Most species nest underground along the base of a linear feature such as a hedge or wall. Sites need to be sheltered and out of direct sunlight.